Oakland woman loses 2 sons to gunfire weeks apart

OAKLAND, Calif. — A Northern California mother pleaded for justice Tuesday, two days after her eldest teenage son was fatally shot and just three weeks after her youngest son suffered a similar fate.

Dinyal New made her plea outside her home just blocks from a growing makeshift memorial of flowers and candles in a quiet neighborhood in east Oakland where her oldest son, 19-year-old Lamar Broussard, and a childhood friend were shot and killed on Sunday — just three days after burying her youngest son.

New’s youngest son, 13-year-old Lee Weathersby III, was shot about a mile away on New Year’s Eve. He died the next day.

“All my boys are gone,” said New, 41, as she begged for witnesses who may know anything about the killings to contact police.

“I’m numb. I am stunned. I am mad. I am angry and hurt,” New continued. “I hope that somebody please comes forward if they saw something to tell the police.”

No arrests have been made in the shootings, Oakland police spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson said Tuesday. On Monday, investigators were looking into the possibility that the slayings were linked.

New said Tuesday that she doesn’t believe that the brothers’ murders are connected.

“They were good boys, both of them,” Lee Weathersby Jr., who is Lee Weathersby III’s father and Broussard’s stepfather, told the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday. “We’re not supposed to be burying our children. It’s supposed to be the other way around. They’re supposed to looking out for us.”

Lee Weathersby III, described by his mother as an avid basketball player and drummer for his school band, was shot on Dec. 31 as he walked home from a friend’s house after he attended a party at a nearby Boys & Girls Club.

On Sunday, Broussard and his childhood buddy, Derryck Harris, 19, were killed while riding in New’s Audi, his mother said. She said Broussard was going to pay her cellphone bill.

Broussard was a college student who aspired to be a musician and start his own business, New said. She added that the family had considered sending Broussard to live with a cousin after his younger brother was killed.

“But, he said, ‘Mom, you need me right now,’ “ New said, wiping away tears. “Lamar was just consoling me at his brother’s funeral -- and now we have to bury him.”

Harris’ mother, Tameka Rothchild of Oakland, told KNTV-TV on Monday that she was in shock.

“I love my son, and unfortunately people out here are heartless and they have no type of morals, no type of values,” Rothchild said. “They don’t care about a human being.”

New pleaded with those who knew the victims that no retaliation occur in response to the shootings.

“You know what my retaliation will be? To see whoever did this be convicted and sentenced in a courtroom,” New said. “No, no, no. Please, no retaliation.”

Sunday’s killings were Oakland’s fourth and fifth of 2014. The city had 92 homicides last year, down from 131 in 2012 and the lowest since 2004.

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